Run for Something recruits and supports young progressives running for down-ballot offices in the United States. Since launching in 2017, Run for Something has recruited over 135,000 young people who want to run for office, endorsed over 3,000 candidates and won over 1,000 elections. Over half of those endorsed candidates are women, more than half are BIPOC, and over a quarter are members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Win or lose, our alumni have meaningfully and intentionally made life better for millions of Americans across the country. We are a high-reaching, hungry team changing the face of politics in America. Learn more about our work in this clip.

The Run for Something network includes Run for Something (a 527 non-federal PAC) ,Run for Something Action Fund (a 501c4), and Run for Something Civics (a newly launched, non-partisan 501c3).We have ambitious plans for 2024 and beyond. Read about them in our Strategic Plan here.

We highly encourage all job applicants to visit our Careers page to learn about our work environment, values, compensation and benefits policies, interview process, and more.

Position Name: Data Engineer

Reporting Structure: This role reports to the Chief Technology Officer.

Location: Remote (U.S.)

Job Classification: Full Time, Exempt

Essential Duties: The primary responsibilities include:

- Collaborate within the Tech Team to build and manage Run for Something’s data pipeline and warehouse (50%)

- Lead new data and reporting initiatives and projects across a variety of Run for Something teams to enable them to make data driven decisions (50%)

Run for Something is hiring a Data Engineer! This role will report to the CTO. As a Data Engineer on Run for Something’s Tech Team, you will coordinate across departments to ensure data is used effectively to further our mission of recruiting and supporting progressive candidates with lived experiences and from marginalized backgrounds for down-ballot offices. As Data Engineer, you will be responsible for ensuring we’re both collecting the right data and collecting it consistently for each point of engagement with each person in the Run for Something universe. You’ll build and orchestrate data pipelines, craft self-serve reporting tools, and find clever solutions to the complex data challenges throughout the organization.

- Lead new data initiatives including synthesizing data needs across teams, building and orchestrating ELT pipelines, integrating APIs and 3rd party data sources, and crafting automations to drive impactful and efficient work across Run for Something.

- Own Run for Something’s data warehouse that integrates engagement and lead data with information on offices, the voterfile, census data, and the Run for Something’s comprehensive candidate support work.

- Build self-serve reporting tools using BI platforms like Looker Studio or Periscode and analytics platforms like Mixpanel.

- Define, document, and maintain data protocols across the organization to promote and measure data integrity and consistency.

- Collaborate with technical and non-technical team members to identify ways we can use data to make our work more efficient and impactful. You will have autonomy to discover, specify, and lead data projects with stakeholders from different departments.

- Work with other members of the Tech Team to build new products that enable data-driven decision making, recruitment, and candidate support work. Engage in code review, sprint planning/retrospectives, and team professional development.

- Support a candidate services strategy that allows RFS to provide advice and expertise on technical strategies for campaigns.

- Google Cloud Platform (all the services you’d expect, but most notably for this role BigQuery and Cloud Composer)

- For web apps: Python/Django on the backend; Typescript/React on the frontend

- Retool for internal dashboards, app MVPS, and workflows

- Cloud Functions/Lambda for tasks and integrations

- A wide array of platforms we integrate via APIs including NGP VAN, Every Action, Action Network, Airtable, Spoke, and Sheets

- Help shape our data warehouse stack! Likely to include BigQuery (including DTS), Dataflow, DBT, Airflow/Cloud Composer, and Civis

- Want to build tech that matters in service of the next generation of progressive leaders

- Care about equity and bias in data (and what we do with the data)

- Take a people-centered approach to solving technical problems by first understanding the teams and individuals your work effects

- Sleep better at night after writing or reviewing a few great tests

- Take pride in well-written and approachable documentation

- Have thought the way data is presented is as important as the data being presented

- Enjoy collaborating with others to find creative technical solutions to complex problems

Candidates with a demonstrated willingness and aptitude for learning new tech are encouraged to apply even if they don’t meet every qualification listed.

- 3+ years of professional data manager or data/analytics engineer experience

- 3+ years of professional experience writing SQL and coding data pipelines (ideally with Python)

- Experience architecting and maintaining complex data environments (read: have simplified - or justified - complex DAGs)

- Familiarity with the data implications in full-stack app (web/mobile) development

- Familiarity with data engineering testing best practices

- Experience with user-centered and agile software development practices

- Experience managing software or data products, including gathering requirements, writing specifications, and coordinating rollout with non-technical team members

- Familiarity with big data storage, data warehouse infrastructure, and containerized development and orchestration

- Experience working on campaigns, committees, or advocacy organizations.

- Experience building data pipelines that integrate a Customer Data Platform like Segment or Rudderstack

- Experience with political tech such as NGP VAN, ActionNetwork, Every Action, or Civis

- Experience working with fully remote teams

- Experience on a small technical team where you had to do a variety of data engineering, analytics, and other reporting

- Familiarity with vector databases and LLM embeddings

Run for Something is committed to building teams that reflect the diversity of our candidates, and to building equitable and inclusive environments that fully leverage the skills, potential, and unique perspectives of our employees. We strongly encourage applications from members of marginalized communities who have been disproportionately affected by lack of representation in elected office, including Black, Indigenous, and people of color, women, and the LGBTQIA+ and disabled communities. Learn more about our commitment here.

In order to prioritize the health and safety of our employees, all Run for Something employees are required to provide proof of COVID vaccination. Run for Something will discuss reasonable accommodations with employees who may be unable to receive a vaccine due to disability, the advice of a medical provider, or sincerely held religious beliefs.

Run for Something is (and always has been and will be) a remote office environment; you will collaborate with colleagues who are based across the United States. You should be prepared to either work from home or a location of your choosing.

This position will require attendance at approximately 2 all-staff or team events per year, which may include overnight travel. Run for Something’s reasonable accommodations policy applies to employees who are unable to travel or participate in gatherings.

As Run for Something grows, your role responsibilities may evolve to ensure it's always aligned to organizational priorities and continuously contributing to our mission of recruiting and supporting young progressives running for down-ballot offices.

This position requires the ability to work core hours, Monday through Thursday. This position may require some nights and weekends work (a few election nights per year) but is not a position that is otherwise expected to be on call.

Learn more about what it’s like to work at Run for Something at our Careers page.

- As this is a remote position, the person in this position must be able to communicate with colleagues and partners via phone, including conference and video calls, as well as written communication such as Slack and email.

- The position requires the ability to attend events which may encompass all or part of the work day.

- This position will include travel, as described above.

- This position requires vision/hearing abilities.

Salary for this position is set at $98,100. In order to counter pay inequality and uphold internal parity, salaries are non-negotiable for new and current employees. Run for Something salary bands for a given staff level are benchmarked to the 75th percentile for our sector, and all new employees are paid at the entry point of those bands. Employees then have the opportunity to progress through current salary bands through annual cost of living increases and performance-based pay increases, and into new salary bands through promotions.

Learn more about our compensation policy here.

Benefits at Run for Something include:

- Four Day Work Week (learn more here)

- Unlimited Paid Time Off policy

- Platinum Medical Insurance (100% of premium covered for employees; 50% of premium covered for dependents)

- Dental and Vision Insurance (100% of premium covered for both employees and dependents)

- Professional Development Stipend

- Treat Yourself Stipend ($500 a year to do something that brings you joy)

- Equipment Stipend

- 401k

- Work from Home Stipend

- Cell Phone/Internet Stipend

- 12 weeks paid family leave

- Paid Sabbatical (after 3 years of service to RFS)

- Employee Assistance Program

- ~ Four weeks in organization-wide holiday closures, including a two-week winter break

- Flexible, remote work environment

- Transition payment for departing employees

Given campaign finance restrictions, candidates for this position must possess valid work authorizations, and cannot be foreign nationals. This means that we are legally prohibited from hiring anyone for this position who is not a US citizen or lawful permanent resident (green card holder).

We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis, with priority review given to earlier applications.

Learn more about our interview process here.

No phone calls, emails, or social media inquiries, please. Due to the volume of applications, we are unable to respond to individual inquiries. As a general policy, we don’t conduct informational interviews for candidates who have applied for specific opportunities at Run for Something to ensure equity in our hiring process and to give everyone who has applied a fair chance to succeed. We know that applying to jobs is difficult, and we do our best to alert every applicant as to their status in the process. However, be aware that you may not receive a response from us until after the application deadline has passed.

If you need accessibility or disability accommodations in any step of the application or interview process, please contact hiring@runforsomething.net, with the job title + “accommodation request” in the subject line.